


A Mere Tale

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Fables - Willingham
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-29
Updated: 2007-07-29
Packaged: 2018-01-25 04:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1631291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story by No One</p><p>The story of a certain fish lady. Her tale about her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mere Tale

**Author's Note:**

> Written for fairy_tale_echo

 

 

I find myself being surrounded by a whirl of water and bubbles as I try to make it to the surface.  
Memories of thing from long ago pass thru my head as I swim from my long time home. I don't look  
back for fear I will go back to it."Do not look back my dear, that is your only warning" That's what the  
witch told me. I had for so long blamed her for my distress but it seems she has been watching over me  
all this time.  
The water begins to become hot I can barely take it, but I can't give up! Not when I'm so close. I would  
have tear running down my face if not for the fact I am in water. Oh, will I make it there, where so many  
have gone before me. I am not sure but I will try my best to get there. It's not like I have much to loose...  
**********  
It all started long ago when I was still just a human girl. I was so naive then thinking I would get to  
marry a handsome prince as so many dreamed before me. I would soon learn a harsh truth thou... not  
everyone was meant for a happy ending. One day as I did my chores a man came into town. A handsome  
man. A brilliant man. An evil man...  
I fell in love right on the spot. Not true love mind you. True love is not all handsome princes as I would  
also learn. The man acted so wonderful and kind around me and so many other girls. I was to blind to  
see we were the sheep and he was the wolf. Out of all the girls in town he chose to flirt with me the  
most... why was it me? I was a peasant girl no prince would want me. He seemed to thou. We started to  
talk a lot and that led to one thing and another. When he was leaving he promised he'd return for me as  
long as I waited by the river. He said he would arrive by the rivers side. And I the stupid girl I was  
believed him.

I waited for a month he didn't come.

I waited two months and he didn't come.

Soon it was a year and he still didn't come. My family and friend warned me that he was not coming,  
that he didn't love me. I didn't listen. Why oh, why did I not listen! One day while waiting a storm was  
coming. I decided to go home. As I walked home I slipped on a wet rock and tripped. I held a branch for  
dear life and screamed for help as I was being dragged into the raging waters. The last thing I saw was a  
man on a horse... it was him.  
I awoke and found I had drowned but... I was still alive. I discovered I could breath under water. As I  
started to go to the surface I discovered I was part fish. I didn't think my family would take me back so I  
puy myself into self-exile. I spent a few years of pain and sorrow until I met a mereman. He took me in  
as his daughter. I was once again whole.  
I spent many happy years with him and his daughters who treated me as a sister. At his death I was  
beyond consoling. I swam out to see and threw myself on a rock. There I wailed, my adopted sisters  
would come on occasion to console me, but the pain wouldn't go. One day while I wept a man came  
onto the rock. He stared at me in awe. "Are you alright?"He asked in a beautiful voice. He offered me a  
tissue and he spoke with me for a bit. I found out he was a prince and had sailed out to clear his head. He  
was to be married to someone he didn't know. I took this as a chance to try to flaunt my beauty so that  
he would stay with me forever. Sadly it didn't work and he left for his home.  
Once again the idiot I was I decided to have that prince as my husband but I needed to be human. My  
adopted sisters told me of an old sea witch who could do this. I departed and my sisters wished me luck.  
My journey was long but I made it there. The sea witch was ugly looking but her voice was like a  
grandmother. She listened to my plea and agreed to help. "Of course my dear I must covert your human  
form from your soul... are you sure you wish this?" warned the witch. I said I was. Stupid, idiotic girl! I  
gave my voice as payment and I left for my prince. When I got there I spoke with him he showed that he  
did love me but... oh I was so stupid to think he was mine. He was a husband now. He loved his wife. I  
was such a fool! I wept on the beach but stop to see my sisters come out of the sea.  
They apparently gave the witch their hair for a enchanted knife. They told me that I was to kill the  
prince and let his blood touch my feet and I would be a meremaid again. I crept slowly to his room. I  
lifted the knife. I was about to plunge it when I stopped. I couldn't kill him. This was not his fault. I was  
the one who brought this up. I became so filled with grief that I ran to a window. I saw the sea and I  
leaped into it. There I became foam. I felt nothing for a bit. It was like I was never in existence. All of a  
sudden I awoke in the witches lair. "I gave you your soul back my dear. But to have the body a certain  
thing must be happen" She explained that if the princes children were good I'd get a human body again.  
If they were bad I would remain a spirit. I agreed to this and so I waited for his children. He had one girl  
who was an absolute angel. I regained my body but the witch made it so I could live on sea and land.  
As the years passed I became wiser but not completely. I believed in the stereo-type that witches ruin  
peoples lives sadly. I soon forgot about her and lived among normal humans. I heard tales of a big bad  
wolf but thought nothing of it. My friend Emily was also a young and naive girl. She to fell in love with  
a wicked man. In the end I'm not sure what happened to her. People say the wolf ate her but I didn't  
believe it. The thing I believed was that the man did Emily in but no one believed me and continued to  
blame the wolf.  
Years passed and I never was able to pin the man for Emily's murder. I was filled with anger about that  
but it was replaced with fear. The Adversary had invaded my land and killed almost everyone. Soldier  
chased me but stopped when I dived off a cliff into water. They thought I killed myself. The fools, but  
thank goodness they are fools. I lived in the water unable to be seen by the soldiers for years. They  
poisoned the water which angered me. I started to lure some of the members of the army to rivers, lakes,  
and other such things. I would drown them all and no one ever new It was me doing it. They blamed it  
on a wolf?!  
It was strange but I didn't care. I killed hundreds of his men but they got wise and started to camp  
away from the water. I began to get more complicated with my attacks. Men would here voices and rush  
to see what it was and hours later they would be found dead. I began to take great sport in this. The best  
part was no one thought it could be me.  
One night when I was surfacing I stopped as I was about to break thru the water. I saw a huge hairy  
creature lapping up water right in front of my face. His tung was so big. It was hard to avoid it. For the  
first time in a long time I felt like a frail child. As he finished he licked his lips and then he saw me. He  
had a toothy grin and said something. Not sure what I was in the water. He lunged his massive muzzle in  
at me ready to devour me. I grabbed his muzzle and let my nails sink in. He let out a yelp and I dragged  
him under. I am very powerful in the water which was the only reason I survived that night. The beast  
ran out of the water bleeding and looked back at me. He let out a low growl and limped away. `Was that  
the Big Bad Wolf? He's not so tough.' I thought. Then I noticed the blood he drew from me. `Okay ...  
maybe he is kind of tough but still...'  
Years passed and I always found something to do. Surprisingly this was the most fun I've had in a long  
time. It soon grew bad when I was finally discovered. I could handle Wolves, Trolls, Goblins, but not  
Sorcerers. I fled to the sea but the Adversary followed. I soon came across the sea witch again who  
offered me safe haven from the Adversary. There we spoke and it was obvious I was not thrilled. "My  
dear do you know who I am?" she asked. I sneered and said"Of course you're the one who ruined my  
life"Stupid welp!"My dear I did not ruin your life. You did that yourself. I have been helping you. I  
saved your life by the river when you tripped. I gave you back your soul. I even had vengeance on that  
unfaithful man you loved so long ago. I have given you so much and yet you blame me my little Safire."  
The witch spoke in anger but it was because I had hurt her feelings. "I am Oceanus! I have watched over  
you so long. You have grown into a fine woman. There is a way out of the homelands. In this portal. I  
want you to go. Never look back." My heart broke when I looked at the witch one last time. She was my  
mother. I embraced her and begged for forgiveness. She accepts and send me thru the portal." "Do not  
look back my dear, that is your only warning"  
***************  
So here we are again. I have just burst thru to the surface and nearly breaking my neck. I slowly drag  
myself to the shore. I have made it. My life hasn't been like mast fairy tales. No prince, no evil witch to  
thwart. Just me and my mother. I lay breathless staring at the starry sky. I hear a wolf howl. It was a big  
wolf. "So here my tale will finally begin"

 


End file.
